My initial thoughts lead to one of those elements in particular - appropriateness. The conversation is less about whether or not the forums allow such content to be posted and more about whether or not the R-Day (or rather, what looks like the entire Beast) schedule has been approved for public consumption. I cannot speak to USMA's policies but I can guarantee you that USCGA's Swab Summer schedule is never meant to be made public, because it is for official purposes - that of training the incoming class. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say the cadet who sent
@USMA2025Cadet the schedule was not authorized to do so, whether they knew it or not. I concur with
@jl123 that it should be marked appropriately, and perhaps it is.
@Casey makes an excellent point - Operational Security (OPSEC) is an essential component of military mission success. You don't give out schedules, locations, personnel information, resources allocated, etc. to anyone unless they have the need to know (something that is also applicable to maintaining classified information - which these incoming candidates very well may be responsible for some day). In this case, the public and incoming candidates do not have the need to know when it comes to the schedule. If they did, I'm sure USMA would happily pass it along. COVID-19 doesn't change that fact. By leaking this schedule (yes - this is a leak of information), the instigator has denied the USMA leadership the opportunity to formally released the information in the appropriate manner.
If I'm looking at your profile history correctly, you are an incoming member of the Class of 2024? You bring up the idea that those who can't "stand the element of surprise" will continue to research until they find answers. However, what you will learn in your time at USMA and in the Army, is that the potential for surprise will always be there and there will be times where you will not find the answers. Furthermore, if answers exist, you may not be in the position where you need to know them - despite what you think you need or want. As I started to dig into in my earlier post, part of going through a basic training environment is learning to adapt to the unknown at an unknown moment in time. You will not be in control, and the Army needs you to learn how to adapt to those types of situations. That is part of the reason why the schedule is not shared. If you can't embrace the unknown in a controlled training environment, how are you going to adapt in a combat situation? The other reason is that the first step to being a leader is learning to be a follower. During basic training, you are a follower. Part of being a follower is trusting those above you to get you to where you need to go, when you need to get there - whether you know the time or place or not. Your leaders will make sure you have the information you need to succeed, no more. Some day, if you decide to remain at USMA, you will get the opportunity to be that leader. Frankly, I doubt anyone coming into USMA understands everything that the schedule says anyway so how useful is it really?
I'll get off my soapbox except to say that I would recommend
@USMA2025Cadet remove the attachment from his post, regardless of whether its a violation of the forum terms or not, and that any 2024 candidate or parent that happened to save that attachment delete it. If anyone has posted or sent it anywhere, attempt to remove those as well. We had a swab when I was a cadre for USCGA who somehow obtained the schedule for Day One (our R-Day). They decided to spread it around and felt like they had pulled one over and given themselves an advantage. It did not take long for the cadre to figure out what had happened, and that person had a very rough start to Swab Summer. So, if for no other reason, why make yourself stick out like that person did? You'd be sticking out for all the wrong reasons, and trust me, it's not a good sign when your company's cadre know your name that first day - and it's even less of a good sign when other companies' cadre know who you are.